1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for shaping elongated bar-shaped bread dough pieces. It especially relates to a method and apparatus in and by which bread dough pieces are shaped to bar-shaped bread dough pieces elongated in their axial direction to produce bar-shaped bread such as French rolls and hot dog rolls.
2. Prior Art
As a means relating to the above, an apparatus has been provided wherein a pressing board or belt is disposed above a conveyor that conveys divided dough pieces, so as to provide a desired gap between the pressing board or belt and the conveyor. The divided dough pieces are supplied into the gap, while being pressed and rolled, thereby producing elongated bar-shaped dough pieces, each being elongated in the axial direction of its rotation.
In shaping bar-shaped bread dough pieces, say, for French rolls, a dough mass is divided and cut into pieces at a prior stage. Each piece is then cut to a desired length. The cut dough piece is then pressed and rolled between the gap, thereby an elongated bar-shaped dough piece being shaped. In stretching the bar-shaped dough piece to elongate it in the axial direction, both its ends tend to be easily elongated as compared with its middle part. Therefore, the wound up bar-shaped dough piece is not uniformly elongated, but has a curved wound-dough end formed on the outer surface of and between the two ends of the bar-shaped dough piece. Thus, as shown in FIG. 11, the wound-dough end (the outer end of the dough that is wound about itself and that end forms a line in the axial direction of the wound-dough piece) of the elongated bar-shaped dough piece 28 does not have a straight line. Also, the wound dough has a residual stress that results from applying an outer force caused by rolling the dough piece. After baking such a dough piece, bar-shaped bread with a curvature or twist on its surface is produced. Therefore, defects have existed in that the bar-shaped dough piece had a bad appearance or a deformed shape due to the curvature of the dough piece resulting from a residual stress within the dough.